Blogging About Life As I Know It

Walt Disney World Vacation 2017

This past week my family celebrated my sister’s birthday in Orlando, Flordia. Luckily my boyfriend and I made two years during our time in Flordia. So I actually had two reasons to celebrate. I must admit the kid in me was a tad bit upset that I didn’t get to see any characters.

This marks my third time going to Walt Disney World. The first time I went was with my aunt, uncle, and cousins when I was around 3 or 4 years old. The second time I was probably around 12 for a family vacation.This time not only am I older, but I was able to really appreciate the trip. Since I vaguely remember the first two trips, I was really excited about going to Disney World. I have Minnie ears from my very first visit that I was really excited to wear. Although I did not see Minnie and take a picture, I still walked around in my classic Minnie ears (seriously, these ears are about 20 years old).

I do believe that everyone should go to Disney World at least once in their life. It is a great experience. For first time visitors, Disney can seem overwhelming. I’ll be honest, it is pretty big. It requires a lot of walking and takes a lot of time. Disney World consists of 4 theme parks and 2 water parks. Personally it would be so much easier to figure which park(s) you want to attend (if not all) and do a park per day.

While there we unforantely only made it to Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom. We also went to Universal Studios and Island of Adventures. A few of my personal favorite rides include: Space Mountain, Avatar, Cinderella Castle Firework Show, Dinosaur, Expedition Everest, Kilimanjaro Safari, Revenge of the Mummy andT ransformers: The 3-D Ride.

As I previously stated, Disney World takes time. Lines always take a little longer than expected so don’t be too surprised if your perfectly scheduled day does not go as planned. Certain rides have long wait times; ranging between 10 minutes to 110 minutes. Just because the line is long does not necessarily mean it will be worth the wait. I definitely suggest reviewing few of the rides at each park to determine which rides you might enjoy. Time not only flies while you are waiting in line or dining in the restaurants, but also the stops you will make through the Disney stores. Stores are every where, literally every where.

I want to share a few simple tips:

Wear comfortable shoes

I initially had in my mind that I wanted to dress cute for my days at Disney World. Then the closer it got I realized that I preferred comfort over pretty dressy. That’s when I decided Nike shorts/tights, t-shirts, and tennis shoes would suffice as you can see above. If you are going to do as much walking and standing as I did, i highly suggest being comfortable. Now if you own a really comfortable pair of slides/sandals go for it. But if you ask me, wear those stylish tennis shoes with a cute short and shirt set. P.S if you purchase a new pair of shoes be sure to break them in before you trip.

Download the app

The My Disney Experience is an app I learned about through a co-worker. I downloaded the app and played around with it to see what all it can be used for. Once you purchase your Disney tickets, you can link your card to the app. This allows you to do various things such as checking the wait time on rides, using the FastPass for rides, navigating through the parks and so much more.

Use FastPass wisely

For those that do not know, FastPass allows you to reserve a spot on a ride within a certain window of time. Instead of having to wait and stand in the general admission line, when you FastPass, you get to stand in a shorter line. FastPass can prove to be very helpful on some rides. However when using FastPass I have a few tips: 1. When you are with a group use a Kiosk in order to reserve the entire party at the same time. The time frame in which the group may get my differ. 2.Reserve your rides ahead of time. There are certain rides that the FastPass will no longer allow you to reserve due to the amount of people that have already reserved time slots. For best results, I suggest attempting to FastPass the day/night before.

Prepare Yourself

You will do a lot of walking. I mean a lot of walking. You will get tired and will possibly have the desire to soak your feet. I know I did. However, weeks before the trip I started walking in the mornings like I did the previous summer, so I was a little prepared. For some people the walking is no problem. For others, it will be an issue. Every person is different so I won’t advise a preparation plan. But yea, prepare yourself.

Enjoy Yourself

It seems so simply. But honestly it can be hard when you are trying to stay on schedule, plan for the following day, keep up with the children, and make sure that everyone on the trip is enjoying themselves. To simply put it, stay in the moment. Walk through the stores and window shop, try a different food, ride that dark, thrilling ride.

Here are a few pictures from the trip when I could remember to use the camera: